1 NOTES ON THE EMACS BUG TRACKER -*- outline -*-
3 The Emacs Bug Tracker can be found at http://debbugs.gnu.org/
5 For a list of all bugs, see http://debbugs.gnu.org/db/pa/lemacs.html
6 This is a static page, updated once a day. There is also a dynamic
7 list, generated on request, but since there are many bug reports this
8 is slow and not recommended.
10 ** How do I report a bug in Emacs now?
11 The same way as you always did. Send mail to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org,
12 or use M-x report-emacs-bug.
14 The only differences are:
16 i) Your report will be assigned a number and generate an automatic reply.
18 ii) Optionally, you can set some database parameters when you first
19 report a bug (see "Setting bug parameters" below).
21 iii) If you want to CC: someone, use X-Debbugs-CC: (this is important;
24 Once your report is filed and assigned a number, it is sent out to the
25 bug mailing list. In some cases, it may be appropriate to just file a
26 bug, without sending out a copy. To do this, send mail to
27 quiet@debbugs.gnu.org.
29 ** How do I reply to an existing bug report?
30 Reply to 123@debbugs.gnu.org, replacing 123 with the number
31 of the bug you are interested in. NB this only sends mail to the
32 bug-list, it does NOT (?) send a CC to the original bug submitter.
33 So you need to explicitly CC him/her (and anyone else you like).
35 (Many people think the submitter SHOULD be automatically subscribed
36 to subsequent discussion, but this does not seem to be implemented.
37 See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=37078)
39 Do NOT send a separate copy to the bug list, since this may generate a
40 new report. The only time to send mail to the bug list is to create a
43 Gnus users can add the following to message-dont-reply-to-names;
44 similarly with Rmail and rmail-dont-reply-to-names:
46 [FIXME needs updating for debbugs.gnu.org]
48 "\\(emacs-pretest-bug\\|bug-gnu-emacs\\)@gnu\\.org\\|\
49 \\(\\(submit\\|control\\|owner\\)@emacsbugs\\.\\|bug-submit-list@\\)\
52 The "bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com" and
53 "owner@debbugs.gnu.org" entries are there because they can
54 appear in the "Resent-To" and "Resent-CC" headers, respectively. For a
55 long time Rmail erroneously included these headers in replies. If you
56 correspond with an Rmail user on a bug, these addresses may end up in
57 the Cc. Mailing to them does nothing but create duplicates and errors.
58 (It is possible you might want to have a dialog with the owner
59 address, outside of normal bug reporting.)
61 ** When reporting a bug, to send a Cc to another address
62 (e.g. bug-cc-mode@gnu.org), do NOT just use a Cc: header.
63 Instead, use "X-Debbugs-CC:". This ensures the Cc address will get a
64 mail with the bug report number in. If you do not do this, each reply
65 in the subsequent discussion will end up creating a new bug. This is
68 Note that the way this feature works is perhaps not ideal (Bug#1720).
69 If X-Debbugs-CC: was specifed by a real header, that header is removed
70 in the mail sent out to the bug list, and the addresses merged into
71 the Resent-CC header (see below). They don't appear as an explicit CC:
72 header, nor do they appear in the Reply-To: header. So people you
73 X-Debbugs-CC are not included in any following discussion unless they are
74 manually cc'd. So this feature really only serves to notify them that
75 a bug has been filed. It's then up to them to follow any subsequent
78 If X-Debbugs-CC were merged into the Reply-To header, this might work
79 more the way people expect.
81 ** How does Debbugs send out mails?
83 The mails are sent out to the bug list with From: and To: unchanged.
84 Eg if you file a bug with "submit@debbugs.gnu.org", that
85 remains in the To: address. They reach the bug list by being resent.
87 Mails arriving at the bug list have the following Resent-* headers:
89 [ FIXME needs updating for debbugs.gnu.org ]
91 Resent-From: person who submitted the bug
92 Resent-To: bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com
93 Resent-CC: maintainer email address, plus any X-Debbugs-CC: entries
95 The "maintainer email address" is "Emacs Bugs <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>"
100 Reply-To: bug submitter, 123@debbugs.gnu.org
102 ** To not get acknowledgement mail from the tracker,
103 add an "X-Debbugs-No-Ack:" header (with any value). If you use Gnus,
104 you can add an element to gnus-posting-styles to do this automatically, eg:
106 ("gnu-emacs\\(-pretest\\)?-bug"
107 ("X-Debbugs-No-Ack" "yes"))
109 (adjust the regexp according to the name you use for the bug lists)
111 ** To record a bug in the tracker without sending mail to the bug list.
112 This can be useful to make a note of something discussed on
113 emacs-devel that needs fixing. In other words, this can be the
114 equivalent of adding something to FOR-RELEASE.
116 To: quiet@debbugs.gnu.org
122 Remember to fix FOO, as discussed on emacs-devel at http://... .
124 ** Not interested in tracker control messages (tags being set, etc)?
125 Discard mails matching:
127 ^X-Emacs-PR-Message: transcript
129 When you close a bug, you get a message matching:
131 ^X-Emacs-PR-Message: closed
133 ** How to avoid multiple copies of mails.
134 When you reply to a bug, respect the Reply-To address, ie send mail
135 only to the submitter address and the numbered bug address. Do not
136 send mail direct to bug-gnu-emacs or emacs-pretest-bug unless you are
139 ** To close bug #123 (for example), send mail
141 To: 123-done@debbugs.gnu.org
143 with a brief explanation in the body as to why the bug was closed.
144 There is no need to cc the address without the "-done" part or the
145 submitter; they get copies anyway so this will just result in more
148 ** Setting bug parameters.
149 There are two ways to set the parameters of bugs in the database
150 (tags, severity level, etc). When you report a new bug, you can
151 provide a "pseudo-header" at the start of the report, eg:
157 Optionally, add a sub-package, eg Package: emacs,calendar.
158 This can include tags. Some things (e.g. submitter) don't seem to
161 Otherwise, send mail to the control server, control@debbugs.gnu.org.
162 At the start of the message body, supply the desired commands, one per
165 command bug-number [arguments]
167 quit|stop|thank|thanks|thankyou|thank you
169 The control server ignores anything after the last line above. So you
170 can place control commands at the beginning of a reply to a bug
171 report, and Bcc: the control server (note the commands have no effect
172 if you just send them to the bug-report number). Bcc: is better than Cc:
173 in case people use Reply-to-All in response.
175 Some useful control commands:
177 *** To reopen a closed bug:
180 *** Bugs can be tagged in various ways (eg wontfix, patch, etc).
181 The available tags are:
182 patch wontfix moreinfo unreproducible fixed notabug
183 Note that the list at http://debbugs.gnu.org/Developer#tags
184 is incorrect, at least for Emacs.
185 The list of tags can be prefixed with +, - or =, meaning to add (the
186 default), remove, or reset the tags. E.g.:
192 See <http://wiki.debian.org/bugs.debian.org/usertags>
194 "Usertags" are very similar to tags: a set of labels that can be added
195 to a bug. There are two differences between normal tags and user
198 1) Anyone can define any valid usertag they like. In contrast, only a
199 limited, predefined set of normal tags are available (see above).
201 2) A usertag is associated with a specific email address.
203 You set usertags in the same way as tags, by talking to the control
204 server. One difference is that you can also specify the associated
205 email address. If you don't explicitly specify an address, then it
206 will use the one from which you send the control message. The address
207 must have the form of an email address (with an "@" sign and least 4
208 characters after the "@").
212 a) In a control message:
214 user bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
215 usertags 1234 any-tag-you-like
217 This will add a usertag "any-tag-you-like" to bug 1234. The tag will
218 be associated with the address "bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org". If you omit
219 the first line, the tag will be associated with your email address.
221 The syntax of the usertags command is the same as that of tags (eg wrt
222 the optional [=+-] argument).
224 b) In an initial submission, in the pseudo-header:
226 User: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
229 Again, the "User" is optional.
231 *** Searching by usertags
233 The search interface is not as advanced as for normal tags. You need
234 to construct the relevant url yourself rather than just typing in a
235 search box. The only piece you really need to add is the "users"
236 portion, the rest has the same syntax as normal.
238 **** To find all bugs usertagged by a given email address:
240 http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?users=bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
242 (Supposedly, the "users" field can be a comma-separated list of more
243 than one email address, but it does not seem to work for me.)
245 **** To find bugs tagged with a specific usertag:
247 This works just like a normal tags search, but with the addition of a
250 http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?users=bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org;tag=calendar
253 Eg when bad replies create a bunch of new bugs for the same report.
254 Bugs must all be in the same state (e.g. same package(s) and severity
255 -- see `reassign' and `severity' below), but need not have the same
256 tags (tags are merged). E.g.:
258 merge 123 124 125 ...
260 Note that merging does not affect titles. In particular, a "retitle"
261 of merged bugs only affects individual bugs, not all of them.
264 Like `merge', but bugs need not be in the same state. The packages
265 must still match though (see `reassign' below). The first one listed
268 forcemerge 123 124 125 ...
270 Note: you cannot merge with an archived bug - you must unarchive it first.
273 To disconnect a bug from all bugs it is merged with:
277 This command accepts only one bug number.
280 Useful when one report refers to more than one bug.
282 clone 123 -1 [-2 ...]
283 retitle -1 second bug
286 The negative numbers provide a way to refer to the cloned bugs (which
287 will be assigned proper numbers).
289 NB you cannot clone a merged bug. You'd think that trying to do so
290 would just give you an unmerged copy of the specified bug number, but no:
292 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=474742
294 You must unmerge, clone, then re-merge.
297 severity 123 critical|grave|serious|important|normal|minor|wishlist
299 See http://debbugs.gnu.org/Developer#severities for the meanings.
301 *** To set the owner of a bug:
302 owner 123 A Hacker <none@example.com>
304 The shorthand `!' means your own address.
306 *** To remove the owner of a bug:
309 *** To mark a bug as fixed in a particular version:
312 *** To remove a "fixed" mark:
315 *** To assign or reassign a bug to a package or list of packages:
316 reassign 1234 emacs,cc-mode
318 ** To remove spam from the tracker, move it to the `spam' pseudo-package:
321 ** To change the title of a bug:
322 retitle 123 Some New Title
324 ** To change the submitter address:
325 submitter 123 none@example.com
327 Note that it does not seem to work to specify "Submitter:" in the
328 pseudo-header when first reporting a bug.
330 ** How does archiving work?
331 You can still send mail to a bug after it is closed. After 28 days with
332 no activity, the bug is archived, at which point no more changes can
333 be made. If you try to send mail to the bug after that (or merge with
334 it), it will be rejected. To make any changes, you must unarchive it first:
338 The bug will be re-archived after the next 28 day period of no activity.
340 ** The web-page with the list of bugs is slow to load
342 It's a function of the number of displayed bugs. You can speed things
343 up by only looking at the newest 100 bugs:
345 http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?newest=100;package=emacs
347 The above page is accessible from the "Options" section at the end of
348 the "main list of bugs" page. Select bugs "in package" = emacs;
349 "newest bugs" = 100. (I have no idea how you get to that Options
350 section without having to go through the bug list page first...)
352 ** Mails to the bug tracker disappear
354 Apparently it has some kind of spam filter that sometimes silently
355 discards valid mails. Adding a subject (pointless in control messages)
360 *** When you fix a bug, it can be helpful to put the bug number in the
361 ChangeLog entry, for example:
363 * foo.el (foofunc): Fix the `foo' case. (Bug#123)
365 Then the relevant bug can be found for easy reference. If it's an
366 obvious fix (e.g. a typo), there's no need to clutter the log with the
369 Similarly, when you close a bug, it can be helpful to include the
370 relevant ChangeLog entry in the message to the bug tracker, so people
371 can see eaxctly what the fix was.
373 *** bug-reference-mode
375 Activate `bug-reference-mode' in ChangeLogs to get clickable links to
380 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2009-11/msg00440.html
382 ** Gnus-specific voodoo
384 *** Put point on a bug-number and try: M-x gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
386 *** If the above is not available:
387 (add-hook 'gnus-article-mode-hook
389 (setq bug-reference-url-format "http://debbugs.gnu.org/%s")
390 (bug-reference-mode 1)))
392 and you can click on the bug number in the subject header.